This has been around since I at least 6.5 I think (and must have been reported countless times, just did not find it).
Am on VMUG, so I can't submit a "real" bug report. Just hoping someone from VMWare picks this up and repairs it. And also hoping it might help others.
Symptoms:
Every time one does an update of vCenter, SMTP mails/mail alerts are no longer sent.
Cause:
The fault is in a wrong update of the underlying submit.cf during the vCenter update.
Workaround:
A rather complicated workaround is mentioned here: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/54375
The easier workaround is here (screen names are from 7.0, they might have been different in earlier versions, but the process is totally identical):
- In vSphere Client, go to vCenter Server Settings (in the configure tab of the vsphere top level)
- click EDIT (right on the screen). The "Edit vCenter general settings" screen will open.
- in section Mail, change Mail server to something else (may even be an invalid server, it just has to have the right format), and save
- click EDIT again,
- in section Mail, change Mail server to the correct server, and save
Mails will work again. Also, all outstanding mails will get sent immediately.